Time running out for Iraqi judge who jailed terrorists

Daniel Tepfer

Published 5:55 pm, Saturday, August 16, 2014

Photo: Contributed Photo

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Judge Hussen Al-Anbaki stands with his family and Bridgeport Deputy Assistant StateâÄôs Attorney Emily Dewey Trudeau (center) in this photograph taken in Iraq in 2008. For more than five years Judge Al-Anbaki worked alongside U.S. troops battling to bring terrorists to justice in Iraq. Dewey Trudeau is now trying to help bring the judge and his family to the U.S. less

Judge Hussen Al-Anbaki stands with his family and Bridgeport Deputy Assistant StateâÄôs Attorney Emily Dewey Trudeau (center) in this photograph taken in Iraq in 2008. For more than five years Judge ... more

Photo: Contributed Photo

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For more than five years Judge Al-Anbaki worked alongside U.S. troops battling to bring terrorists to justice in Iraq. He is now fighting to bring himself and his family to the U.S.

For more than five years Judge Al-Anbaki worked alongside U.S. troops battling to bring terrorists to justice in Iraq. He is now fighting to bring himself and his family to the U.S.

Photo: Contributed Photo, Contributed Photo

Time running out for Iraqi judge who jailed terrorists

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BRIDGEPORT -- For more than five years Iraqi Judge Hussen Al-Anbaki worked alongside U.S. troops battling to bring terrorists to justice. But now he's engaged in an even bigger fight- trying to get himself and his family to the U.S.

A local state prosecutor and a New Haven immigration lawyer are spearheading an effort to convince the U.S. government to issue Al-Anbaki and his family special visas. They say with U.S. troops gone from Iraq terrorist groups have become emboldened, assassinating judges and they are worried Al-Anbaki is next on their list.

"This is not just about wanting a better life for himself and his family this is about wanting a life. Their lives are now in peril because he helped us," said Deputy Assistant State's Attorney Emily Dewey Trudeau.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal is also weighing in on the case. "I have been made aware of the request and am monitoring the situation to ensure Mr. Al-Anbaki has a fair opportunity to present the evidence necessary to support his visa application. I am hopeful that his application will be processed quickly," he said.

Trudeau was a lieutenant in the Navy's Judge Advocate General's office when in 2007 she was assigned to the Law and Order Task Force in Iraq. It was there she began working with Judge Al-Anbaki and became friends with him and his family, his wife and three children. As an investigative judge Al-Anbaki worked within the Iraqi judicial system gathering evidence on terrorism against both American soldiers and Iraqi citizens which he would then present before an Iraqi trial panel.

Dangerous people

"He was doing it because he believed it was the right thing to do because these were people not only dangerous to the Americans in Iraq, but to the Iraqi people as well," Trudeau said.

In 2008, the U.S. Congress authorized a Special Immigrant Visa program to allow Iraqis, Kurds and Afghans who had worked for the U.S. government and were now in danger for doing so to immigrate to the U.S. A number of Kurds were relocated to the Bridgeport's West Side through the program. However, Judge Al-Anbaki was rejected for the program.

In a letter to Al-Anbaki dated March 27, Gillian Apfel, refugee coordinator for the U.S. Chief of Mission, stated: "You were not actually employed by or on behalf of the U.S. government. Your work with the Law and Order Task Force was the result of a cooperation agreement between Multi-National Force Iraq and the government of Iraq."

But Trudeau said it had been the judge's decision not to be on the U.S. government's payroll. He believed he could do a better job if he was considered neutral.

"He purposely remained neutral as a member of the Iraqi judiciary, but he did receive other compensation from the U.S. We supplied him with a secure housing facility so he could carry out his work without getting killed," Trudeau said. "If I had hired someone in Iraq to keep up my WiFi, giving them a paycheck that person would be eligible to come to the U.S., but not the judge. He tries to come here and gets the door slammed in his face."

"They are saying he was not directly employed by the U.S. government and we are arguing that he was working on behalf of the U.S. government and as a result of helping our government he put his life and that of his family in danger," he said. "We need to take care of the people who helped us."

Hwang said they have submitted the appeal papers and are awaiting a response.

On June 16, 2006, insurgents killed Army Specialist David J. Babineau and captured Private First Class Kristian Menchaca and Private First Class Thomas L. Tucker. Despite a search operation by 8,000 American and Iraqi soldiers Menchaca and Tucker were not found. Three days later the bodies of Menchaca and Tucker were found. They had been tortured and mutilated and rigged with an improvised explosive device.

Judge Al-Anbaki led the investigation into the deaths of Tucker and Menchaca, Trudeau said. "It was the first time an Iraqi judge worked to get justice for Americans murdered in Iraq," she said.

Brought to justice

Al-Anbaki rode with the convoys of U.S. troops into insurgent territory to interview possible witnesses to the kidnapping and murder of the two soldiers.

"He was persuading the local Iraqis to come forward and testify against terrorists something that had never been done before because people were too afraid," Trudeau said.

"He convinced them to have faith that the legal system would bring bad people to justice."

Eventually, as a result of Al-Anbaki's efforts a terrorist was convicted in the case.

"While on one hand it was disappointing that only one of the terrorists were convicted the fact that there was a conviction through the Iraqi judicial system was a victory and it did bring some justice to the families of the soldiers that were killed," she said.

On Nov. 14, 2006, paramilitary gunmen in the uniforms of Iraqi National Police commandos raided a building belonging to the Ministry of Education in Baghdad's Karrada district and arrested around 100 members of staff from two departments and around 50 visitors. The bodies of those kidnapped were found buried in shallow graves in 2012. Judge Al-Anbaki took part in the investigation.

"His investigations involved people high up in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government who were responsible for corruption and sectarian violence," Trudeau said.

"This was a very bold move for the judge to take and put the lives of himself and his family in danger. But he believed he could use the Iraqi justice system to weed out corruption and terrorists from the government."